Drowned Out
by Persephone Kore
Summary: What if Domino saw Cable kiss Stacy, and then she ran into Stryfe?


_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on characters, setting, and so forth belonging to Marvel Comics. No harm is intended and no material or financial profit expected. Please email me if you wish to feedback, archive, MST, or Pop-Up. _

**Drowned Out  
by Persephone**

Drizzle splattered on her grocery bag, and Domino sighed. Lucky she'd asked for plastic, huh? 

A squinting glance at the furry gray clouds wisping into rain told her that it was only going to get worse. What a day. She'd wandered off from X-Force to hang out in another city for a while on her own _why_, again?

She'd needed some time to herself. Unfortunately, having gotten it, she was now disgusted with it. Of course, nicer weather might have improved her mood.

Rain did not. Pushing through a crowd of people who'd apparently stopped to gawk at some kind of disaster did not. 

Domino looked up and wiped rain and hair out of her eyes as she popped out the front of the crowd. Didn't want to go walking headlong into the disaster, after all. 

Nathan was locked in a kiss with some woman, a few yards in front of her, rain pouring down both their faces, his arm supporting whoever it was as she leaned into it. 

Domino turned and plunged back into the crowd, walking fast and almost blindly, everyone merging into a blur of obstacles and gaps, rain getting into her eyes. 

Rain.

What was this, her life turned into a Hemingway novel?

Nathan was kissing another woman.

Somebody else.

Well, fine. She didn't have anything to be upset about. She'd essentially told him she never wanted to see him again, after all. 

She had no right to be -- no. She had no REASON to be upset. He had a perfect right to go kiss anybody he wanted to. 

Of course he did.

She could kiss somebody else, too. She could go to bed with somebody else, if she wanted to, and maybe she would, and -- 

Nathan was kissing somebody else.

She _missed_ him.

She'd told him to leave her alone. 

Couldn't blame him.

Didn't want him. 

Brakes screamed as she crossed the street; the corner of a silver-blue car barely missed her. Pretty. Shiny chrome on the bumper. Looked kind of like the T-O.

That was a stupid comparison.

She kept going, stalking through the crowd without a thought for the slower-moving people she might be offending. They'd get over it. 

Someone was keeping up with her.

Domino usually noticed when she was being followed. Whoever this was had fallen into step with her without her noticing until afterwards and was keeping up effortlessly with her reckless plunge through the rain, and she wasn't running into people anymore because they seemed to be getting out of the way. 

"Infuriating, isn't he?" a voice said from well above her ear. A familiar voice, but _wrong_, and dripping with sympathy.

For some reason, the first thing that went through her head was not, "Stryfe, you insane parody of my partner, go swim in gasoline and go back to the fires of hell where you belong" or "I'm going to kill you" or anything else sensible. It was "I look like a drowned rat." 

What she _said_ was, "Get away from me; he's none of my business anyway." 

"Of course he isn't. He's only thrown you over for a pretty little blonde without half your spunk." Stryfe stopped and, involuntarily, Domino did too; he put a hand to her jaw and she smacked his arm away. He laughed at her. "Actually, I don't know her at all. I believe her name's Stacy, though...."

"He can run with who he wants. I told him to go away." Thrown her over, indeed. She stalked off again.

Stryfe's legs were too long to let him be easily left behind; he didn't need to restrain her. "It would appear he listened to you for once."

Domino halted again and wheeled around to face him, jabbing her finger right below his sternum before he stopped. This had about as much effect as it would have on Nathan, i.e., negligible. "What's your game?"

Stryfe spread his hands. "I simply noticed you seemed upset, and thought I'd come talk to you. After all, I know all about being a substitute -- and substituted for. And Nathan seemed... preoccupied."

"Bull." She felt a chill as she realized it was the truth, though. He'd seen that she was upset over Nathan -- which she wasn't, a part of her mind insisted; denial to the bitter end -- and _come to talk to her_ because he'd just love the chance to catch someone Nathan cared about, or had cared about, when they were mad at him and might actually listen to his worst enemy. 

"You're drenched, you know," Stryfe remarked, giving her a frighteningly charming smile. 

"I hadn't noticed," she snapped back, with heavy sarcasm. What she really hadn't noticed until now was that they were no longer being rained on. Everyone else was. 

"Well, you seemed preoccupied, too," he replied, blithely ignoring her tone. He _had_ been being rained on, at some point. There were dark spatters on the shoulders and chest of his sweatshirt, but they were too light to be blood. He smiled again, smug and maniacal and bizarrely appealing. 

Telepaths... and she'd seen that expression on Nathan's face once or twice, when he was proposing a really crazy plan of action that would probably work mostly because it was too ridiculous to be defended against. 

"Come on," he went on, persuasively, eye gleaming. No one else seemed to notice, but no one was looking _up_ in the rain except her, so he probably didn't even have to force them to overlook it. "Why don't we go inside somewhere and get warm, and... talk? I'll buy you coffee."

Domino stared. It would be stupid to go with him. He was looking for a chance to manipulate her; that was obvious. 

Then again....

It was chilly and pouring rain. She was feeling reckless. She had drowned her groceries, at least everything in cardboard. And she had nothing to do with Nathan any longer.

And if Stryfe really wanted to make her do something, he could tie her up telekinetically and walk her into the shop or drag her off somewhere without it crossing anyone's mind that there was anything wrong. 

So why shouldn't she let him buy her coffee if he wanted to? 

"Sure. There's a shop on the next block."

*****

He held the door for her. She gave him a very suspicious look and went through it, and ordered the most expensive coffee they offered. He didn't blink. Well, he did, but only in the normal eye-lubricating sense, nothing with any particular significance. 

He ordered hot chocolate.

"Why do you get cocoa at a coffee shop?"

"Nathan's caffeine addiction worries me."

Domino took a large, defiant swallow of her own coffee and felt the heat half-scald her throat and crawl down her esophagus to swirl comfortably in her stomach. Much better. This was, much as she hated to admit it, a good idea. 

"That's got some of it too."

"It tastes better." 

"Sure it does. Thought you of all people would like bitter."

"Drink your coffee."

"What's it look like I'm doing?"

"Talking."

She snorted at him, grabbed a napkin, and wrung her hair out with it. 

"I could do that for you."

"Don't touch me."

"I wouldn't have to."

Domino glowered.

Stryfe smiled.

The conversation appeared to be going nowhere fast. On the bright side, she was warm and had mostly stopped dripping on the floor. On the dark side... she was having coffee with Stryfe. 

Oh well. He had better things to do than poison her. More likely poison her mind, and that was another of those things that she couldn't exactly prevent if he were really determined, so she might as well get coffee out of it, right?

Stryfe sighed and shook his head, still watching her with that curious half-smile she couldn't quite read. "Nathan never has been one to appreciate properly what he's got, has he?"

"He hasn't _got_ me," Domino retorted sharply, and considered throwing the coffee at Stryfe. Probably no point. He'd just shield and it would splatter on the floor and be wasted. Actually, the way he was acting currently, she wouldn't put it past him to collect it all and put it back in her cup.

It was almost tempting, just to see that....

"Ah, yes, of course -- you simply enjoy dashing across the street in front of traffic in the rain."

"I jaywalk a lot anyway."

"Of course. Trust to luck?"

"You want me to throw this at you?"

"Not especially." He leaned his chin on his fist and laughed softly at her across the table again. "You're a difficult woman to compliment, aren't you?"

"No, you're just lousy at it."

"Hmmph. At least I try." Subtle emphasis on _I_. 

"Try without slamming Nathan."

"But that's so much harder...."

"Poor you."

"I thought you were mad at him."

She was, but she didn't have any reason to be and it was none of Stryfe's business anyway. "Compliments, for your _future_ reference, work better if they're not actually indirect insults. Indirect compliments that are also direct insults are even worse. Even if the insult is to someone else."

Stryfe drummed his fingers on the table. "I should be more direct?" He eyed her speculatively as he sipped his chocolate and ordered her another coffee.

Domino started to wonder what Stryfe's idea of "more direct" involved and how much trouble she was in. It was not reassuring that he had ordered the kind of coffee she had decided she wanted next instead of the kind she'd been having.

"All right." He set down his own drink decisively, with a small tap against the table. She almost jumped. "You're practical, spirited, resilient, obstinate, worth the prices you ask for as a merc, a crack shot, and beautiful. And I like your hair."

She stared at him.

"Well... that was miscellaneous...."

"It was also direct."

"Yes. Yes, it was. I'm bemused now."

He looked disappointed, though the expression had nowhere near the potency of Nathan's occasional puppy-dog looks. Possibly Nate had developed them as a child, on Scott and Jean, so in the corresponding timeframe Stryfe would have had to practice on Apocalypse, which didn't seem as if it would be as much use. 

Despite the comparative ineffectiveness, however, she was still there. Domino frowned into her coffee. That was worrying. She knew exactly what he was -- probably -- up to, but she was still there.

She wondered what would happen if she tried to leave.

"Well." She drained the last of her coffee and stood up before Stryfe could get her another one. "Nice talking to you and all, better than expected anyway. Goodbye."

And she walked out, catching Stryfe's disconcerted expression in the translucent reflection in the window.

He didn't move to get up. 

*****

Domino had gotten about two steps from the door when she remembered one of the main reasons she'd let Stryfe talk her into going for coffee in the first place. Namely the soaking rain. She was drenched already.

Lovely. 

She squelched onward. 

Maybe there would be a store with umbrellas in it somewhere on her way, since she'd left her living one behind in the coffee shop, drinking cocoa.

Not that there was a whole lot of point; she'd just drip all over the floor.....

Upon realizing that she was heading back in the general direction of where she had last seen Nathan, Domino executed an abrupt about-face, nearly ran into a very tall person who looked extremely puzzled when she peered up at him to make sure he was neither Nate nor Stryfe (he wasn't), and turned off at the next side-street she didn't remember walking on.

There turned out to be currently-abandoned construction going on. She avoided a large hole in the sidewalk through what must have been sheer luck, as she didn't see it until one foot was planted about two-thirds on the edge and one-third off, and the other was in the air. 

Fun power to have, sometimes. A car swerved to miss her as she hopped into the street to go around a knot of people who'd picked a truly horrible time and place to eavesdrop, and as its tires spun through a puddle she was the only one who didn't get splattered.

She sighed ruefully and knocked water droplets off the end of her nose, looking at the ankle-deep puddle she'd landed in herself on the way back. OK, so it didn't ALWAYS work.

She splashed back out, made it to the sidewalk and then the end of the street, then squinted up through sheeting rain at the corner sign. If she wanted to look for one, there WAS a store with umbrellas on this street....

Which would be closed by now, probably. 

"Do you still think I'm mind-controlling you, or do you just go for a walk in the pouring rain every time you want to make a point?"

She looked up, got water in her eyes, and wiped them with considerable annoyance. "Not you again," she groaned. 

"Do you mind if I block the rain away again, or are you enjoying yourself too much?"

Domino eyed one of the most infuriating smiles she'd ever seen and considered the possibility that she should be glad he didn't insist on her giving permission. 

"Oh, I'm having a wonderful time. You?"

"Such a dry tone for such a damp woman. I'm quite well, thank you, particularly having just regained your charming company."

She pushed straggling wet hair off her forehead so it couldn't interrupt her glower. "I don't suppose it occurred to you that I might want to keep my charming company to myself, or I wouldn't have left?"

"The thought did cross my mind," Stryfe admitted, "but being cooperative goes against my principles."

"You have principles?"

"Yes. For you, however, I might make an exception. Shall I go away again?"

"You didn't go away in the _first_ place. I did."

"But you aren't going anywhere _now_."

The melting tone was just too much, and Domino started laughing. She supposed there might be some slight advantage to the telepath's presence, if he decided to keep anyone from noticing; on the other hand, she didn't care that much, and he was starting to look too offended to make expecting anything helpful worth while.

Come to think of it, maybe controlling herself would be a good idea; she was edging dangerously close to giggles.

"All right." Deep breaths. He wasn't doing anything all _that_ alarming, and he could have made her come back to the coffee shop instead of coming to look for her, if he'd wanted to. He actually looked slightly damp himself this time; she wondered if he'd forgotten to pay attention to the shield for a little while. "You can stay, if you keep on playing umbrella."

"A small price to pay for your presence." He paused, then dropped the over-grand tone and added, "I would, however, prefer to enjoy it indoors. I'm well aware this isn't the case here and now, but I'm used to most rainstorms being fairly corrosive. Unless you particularly _want_ to stand in the street...."

Domino hesitated for another long moment. "Are you trying to take me for coffee again?"

"If you want some while you dry off. Or we could always go blow something up."

He _had_ to be diverting passers-by from registering their conversation. She choked slightly on another laugh. "No."

"No? Why not?" He looked down at her, head slightly tilted. "Not feeling destructive enough?"

"It'd be too much like something I would do with Nathan." Let him take that as he wanted.

Stryfe twitched slightly -- almost a flinch, perhaps. "Very well, what would you like to do?" A beat. "Reno?"

"I'm banned from every casino in Nevada and don't feel like coming up with a disguise right now."

"I can disguise you."

"Telepathy's not sporting. It takes all the fun away."

Stryfe pursed his lips and sighed. "You _are_ hard to please, aren't you?" His left eye gleamed, enough to reflect in the right, and he started to smile. "So what could you never get Nathan to do with you?"

"What makes you think I didn't find somebody else to do it instead?"

"I'm sure you did, but you wanted to do something you wouldn't have with Nathan."

"No, I didn't want to do something I would have with Nathan. There's a difference."

"Conceded. Are you going to answer my question?"

Domino considered this for a long moment, then grinned evilly. "Let's go to an arcade, take over the high scores lists, and scare all the teenagers."

Stryfe blinked at her. 

"Well?"

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. It's fun. Are you serious about showing me a good time just to spite Nathan?"

Domino watched with considerable satisfaction as the telepath who had been so irritatingly suave and self-confident since he first showed up beside her in the street today was taken entirely off guard. 

If only for a moment. "How perceptive of you."

"You weren't all that subtle."

"Not _just_ to spite him."

She snorted. "You'd never have looked twice me if not for him, and we both know it."

"Of course I would. We were still in the same general profession; you'd probably have shot me if I hadn't kept an eye on you."

"I almost shot you once when you weren't."

"Did you? That's all right; a good enemy can be frighteningly attractive."

Domino rolled her eyes. She should have known Stryfe would find women trying to kill him attractive. "Great. Treat me to video games then. We can even go two-player."

"Why an arcade?"

"Have you ever been to one?"

Stryfe paused. "Not for the purpose intended by its proprietors."

Domino suspected that she didn't want to know exactly what purpose Stryfe had visited an arcade for, in that case, although she could probably come up with several possibilities. "Come try it out then. Don't kill anybody, just... release your inner adolescent." She started off through the crowds and the umbrellas and the rain again, this time with a destination in mind. 

"You wouldn't say that if you'd known me as a teenager. I was considerably crazier than I am now."

"Awwww. Don't worry, everyone starts losing some of their edge when they get old."

Stryfe arched an eyebrow at her; she looked up into a slightly alarming eye-flare. "Care to reconsider that statement?"

"Sensitive subject?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Often."

"Just so long as you don't cheat at pinball."


End file.
